During a winter when most health reform talk is about a general retreat from or counterattack against last year’s federal Affordable Care Act, advocates for even more radical, universal-coverage reform got a rare hearing Monday.

Sen. Irene Aguilar, Denver

Denver Democratic Sen. Irene Aguilar is pushing Senate Bill 168, which would authorize an outside consultant to create a plan and cost for a universal health coverage system for Colorado. Aguilar’s bill passed out of the Senate Business, Labor and Technology committee on a 4-3 party-line vote this afternoon, after three and a half hours of testimony.

Aguilar’s bill only authorizes a study, and no government money to conduct it — the $1 million-plus study would be paid for by private donations and grants. But the scope of the work is notable at a time when President Obama is softening some requirements of last year’s national reform, and multiple court cases are testing the constitutionality of the law.

After the new “authority” commissions and receives the report from a consultant, the idea for a universal-payer system would go back to the Legislature and then be referred to the public for a vote in 2013. A universal system would likely mean new payroll or other taxes on Coloradans to cover the 200,000-plus who would still be left without insurance after national and state reforms fully kick in by 2014.

Aguilar and supporters insisted the bill is not a “single-payer” system, locking citizens into coverage only provided by a government entity. In response to challenges from Republicans on the Senate committee, they said the universal co-op as envisioned in the bill would still allow private citizens to buy higher coverage above a base set for all state residents.

Perhaps a legislative redistricting committee should have adopted that old real estate mantra of “location, location, location” because a hearing at the state Capitol tonight was sparsely attended.

Denver Mayor Bill Vidal and U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette of Denver kicked off the testimony, pushing for Denver to remain intact when the new boundaries for Congressional District 1 are drawn.

“I urge you to adopt a map that keeps Denver a whole and unified community,” Vidal said.

Every decade after the census, states must redraw congressional boundaries so they contain roughly the same amount of people in each one. Denver needs to add around 56,400 people and suggestions varied tonight on where to redraw the lines. Go south. No, go north.

A special bipartisan legislative committee has been charged with redrawing Colorado’s map, and is holding public hearings in each congressional district. Congressional District 1 met tonight at the Capitol, a dicey location under the best of circumstances. Citizens often complain that parking downtown is scarce and expensive, and several people who did show up said they circled the Capitol before finding a door that was open to the public.

The state Senate on Monday confirmed a key critic of Pinnacol Assurance, the state-chartered worker’s compensation fund, to its board despite some Republicans complaints of a conflict of interest.

The appointment of John Cevette, who is the chief of staff to Senate President Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, is the latest chapter in an ongoing saga around the quasi-governmental agency, whose top executives and key board members have been blistered over luxury junkets.

Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, urged the appointment of Cevette by Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, be sent back to committee because a question Mitchell had asked never got answered. Mitchell last week had asked whether Cevette supported a move in 2009 to tap $500 million from Pinnacol’s assets to help balance the budget, but Sen. Lois Tochtrop, D-Thornton, the chairwoman of the committee, had told Cevette he didn’t have to answer.

Mitchell on Monday called Tochtrop’s action a “hijacking of a legitimate question.”

Denver mayoral candidates are making a last-minute push to gather contributions before today’s deadline for the month of February as well as collecting signatures before next week’s deadline for petitions to be confirmed.

In years past, February has typically been a tough fund-raising month because it is a shorter month and with at least one federal holiday.

In the 2003 election, eventual winner John Hickenlooper was third in February fund-raising, collecting $134,614, including a loan to himself on Feb. 28. Former public safety manager Ari Zavaras was tops in February, netting $138,014, and former city auditor Don Mares was second with $135,256.

Candidates in this election also are hustling to get at least 300 verified signatures from Denver voters in order to appear on the May 3 mail-in ballot. In 2003, 10 candidates had filed paperwork saying they intended to run but only seven got enough signatures to appear on that year’s ballot. Eventually, the runoff was between Hickenlooper and Mares.Read more…

Sen. Rollie Heath, D-Boulder, announced in a press conference today an initiative for increasing Colorado sales and use tax to help raise adequate education funding. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)

Sen. Rollie Heath, D-Boulder, today announced he would file an initiative that would ask voters to enact a three-year, $1.63 billion tax increase.

“The straw that broke the camel’s back for me was when the governor presented his budget to the JBC (Joint Budget Committee),” Heath said in a press conference at the Capitol, referring to Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper’s plan to impose deep cuts to K-12 schools and higher education.

A bottle deposit bill pushed by a Salida middle school died in committee but not before a Republican lawmaker infuriated the Democratic sponsor with his comments.

That sort of thing isn’t unusual at the Capitol, but it’s what happened afterward that was interesting: The next day some Democrats defended the Republican who made the comments.

Rep. Dan Pabon, D-Denver, worked with Crest Academy on the bottle bill, and students traveled from Salida last week to testify in behalf of House Bill 1247. It wasn’t expected to pass, and it didn’t but not before Rep. Mark Waller’s comments took Pabon and others by surprise.

“Rep. Pabon, I’ll give you this. You’ve raised my rancor in a way it hasn’t been raised so far this session,” said Waller, R-Colorado Springs. “I am incredibly disappointed that we would bring Colorado school children down to our state Capitol and them in such a way they were used today.”

Sen. Rollie Heath plans to unveil his proposal for a tax increase to address the state’s budget problems in a press conference this afternoon.

Heath, D-Boulder, will announce his plan at noon today in the West Foyer of the Capitol.

Heath says his proposal is being prompted by the fact that Gov. John Hickenlooper is proposing deep cuts to K-12 schools and higher education.

“This is unacceptable to me,” Heath said. “As a businessman, I fully understand that we need economic development in Colorado to continue climbing out of this recession. I also understand that education equals economic development, which in turn equals jobs.

“If we want to compete in a knowledge-based and technological world of the future, we’ll need excellence in education, and that requires funding.”

UPDATE:Hearing has been moved to old Supreme Court chambers, second floor of the Capitol.

Congressional District 1

Coloradans tonight get their say on how to redraw the 1st Congressional District, comprised mostly of Denver residents.

The public hearing is scheduled for 6-9 p.m. at the Legislative Services Building just south of the Capitol in the same building where the Joint Budget Committee meets.

It is the third public hearing for a special legislative committee charged with redrawing the boundaries of Colorado’s seven congressional districts. The boundaries change every decade after census information is released to make sure roughly the same amount of people reside in each district.

CD 1, home to Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette, must grow by more than 56,000 people, according to census information released last week.

Lynn Bartels thinks politics is like sports but without the big salaries and protective cups. The Washington Post's "The Fix" blog has named her one of Colorado's best political reporters and tweeters.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.